Kyrgyzstan has become the first Central Asian country to join a new UN rail freight convention designed to cut transport costs, speed up cross-border shipments and strengthen trade links between Europe and Asia.
The development was highlighted by UN Under-Secretary-General Tatiana Molcean, who also serves as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), at the SPECA Economic Forum in Bishkek on 4 November.
Molcean highlighted Kyrgyzstan's growing role in regional connectivity, particularly through the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA), which the country chairs in 2026.
She said aligning international rail freight regulations would make transport more efficient and strengthen regional trade corridors, pointing to the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project as a key example of cross-border cooperation.
Kyrgyzstan formally acceded to the UN Convention on the Contract for International Carriage of Goods by Rail on 29 April 2026, becoming the first country to join the agreement.
The convention seeks to create a single legal framework for international rail freight, making shipments more efficient and providing greater legal certainty along routes connecting Europe and Asia.
According to UNECE estimates, the agreement could cut average transit times by more than 10 per cent and reduce direct transport costs by at least $500 per container.
China, Germany, the Netherlands and Togo have also signed the convention and are moving towards ratification. The agreement will enter into force once five countries have become parties.
The agreement comes amid growing geopolitical tensions that have disrupted established trade routes, increasing demand for alternative connections linking Europe and Asia via Central Asia and the Caucasus.
According to UNECE, annual freight volumes along the Middle Corridor have surged more than fivefold over the past seven years, climbing from 0.8 million tonnes to 4.5 million tonnes.
Container traffic has also grown sharply, with around 77,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) transported along the route in 2025. That figure is projected to reach 300,000 by 2029.
UNECE estimates that around 1.9 million TEUs move between China and Europe each year, underscoring the potential for alternative trade routes to capture a larger share of freight traffic.
Alongside efforts to improve rail connectivity, Molcean welcomed Kyrgyzstan's contribution to the SPECA Multilateral Trust Fund, which has also received financial support from Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.
She urged other participating countries and international development partners to support the initiative.
The fund finances joint projects spanning transport, trade, digital connectivity and energy, with the aim of tackling common economic and infrastructure challenges.
Molcean described SPECA as a UN platform that complements existing regional cooperation initiatives, stressing that closer coordination could help turn commitments made by Central Asian leaders and Azerbaijan at their annual consultative meetings into concrete progress.
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